Verdant Spring
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Within the Spring Court, the Verdant Spring is a popular Contract among those who would ride their passionate desire to something greater than a cold beer or a hot lay. The clauses of the Verdant Spring offer the Spring Court the possibility of spurring themselves and others to great heights, but like passion itself, they are neither safe nor sure.
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Font of Inspiration: This clause grants a touch of fae inspiration to any one creative endeavor for a short time. By accessing their own inherent knack for sensing others' desires, fae with this clause are able to create more successfully. The enhanced results are not a result of the clause increasing their workmanship, but because it allows them to better interpret and anticipate the needs and desires of their target demographic. Thus, the ability can be applied to other's creations as well, allowing a fae with this clause to inspire, advise and consult with other people and enhance their ability to create as well.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The user invests their own literal blood, sweat, or tears into the project or the plans for it.
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The Ineffable Gift: Some people have a certain aura of confidence and focus about them that comes from being dedicated to following their own dreams, goals and desires – regardless of what the rest of the world thinks. This can come across to others as intensely annoying and self-centered, or strangely attractive and intriguing. Changelings with this clause of Verdant Spring can use their own inner passions to appear more appealing to others. Unfortunately, if used too often, the clause backfires, driving others away. Each successive use of this clause within 24 hours has a stacking penalty per target. One target's penalty does not affect another's.
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Cost: 1 glam
Loophole: The changeling speaks aloud about something they're passionate about.
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Spur the Crowd: Whether it's rallying folks at a political protest march from passive resistance to aggressive action, or turning a cocktail party against a newcomer's cutting edge fashion statement, a mob can be a potent tool for the Emerald Court. This contract can bring the (sometimes hidden) desires of certain members of the crowd, bringing them to the surface where they can spark similar passions in others.
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Cost: 1 glam
Loophole: No one in the target crowd knows the user is a changeling.
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Verdant, Roiling Heart: By tapping into their own passions, the user of this clause is able to surge their own or another's willpower to dizzying heights. This clause may only be used on a target once per week. Additional attempts automatically fail and incur a stacking penalty of exhaustion and emotional drain as the target's passion is burnt out from overuse.
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Cost: 1 glam
Loophole: The changeling directly takes an action related to their Needle or Thread.
Fae Court of Spring
The Antler Crown, the Emerald Court, the Court of Desire, all names for this court of fae who follow the motto 'Bare branches can once again sprout fruit.', in that they prefer to look at life with hope, to replace loss with something new and work towards brighter days. They try to surround themselves in beauty of all kinds, from song and dance to artwork and good food, which is reflected in many of their celebrations such as Imbolc, or Bard's Day, the first day of Spring, a festival of amazing fae food, poetry and story competitions, art galleries, and more, as well as attempting to see to at least one desire of every guest in attendance.
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Members are not only allowed to fulfill their own desires, but must help other Spring Court members in theirs.
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​One of the most famous rituals the Spring Court holds is the Spring Revel, performed when winter officially passes into spring. The ritual is famous not only among members of the Antler Crown, but among all changeling courts; all secretly desire an invitation because they also know that the members of the Spring Court will attempt, in the course of the Revel, to make one of their desires come true.
Eternal Spring
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The Contracts of Eternal Spring provide powers of growth and rejuvenation to the fae, just as Spring brings growth and rejuvenation to Earth.
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Gift of Warm Breath: The Contract's subject gains energy. He becomes as healthy and alert as though he has just risen from a full night's rest and had a full breakfast. All fatigue penalties disappear, and any bashing damage or damage suffered from food or water deprivation is fully healed.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling gives the target something to eat or drink that they made themselves.
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Spring's Kiss: This contract lets the fae summon a rainstorm, from light drizzle to a heavy downpour within 5 miles of the user.
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Cost: 1-2 glamour
Loophole: The user is wearing bright yellow boots and a rain cap.
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Warmth of Blood: The changeling creates an ointment from dreams and the memory of spring flowers and possibly a small portion of his own blood, and salves his target's wounds with it, healing them rapidly.
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Cost: 1 glam + willpower
Loophole: The changeling adds their own blood to the mixture.
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Blessing of Spring: The changeling takes a day brewing the beginning and end of Spring together into a cordial: dew drops collected in the morning, flowers plucked during the day, and starlight harvested at night, all infused with the changeling's Glamour. Even the memory of such things suffices. With it, he blesses a living creature or plant with a spring's worth of growth and healing. Plants, including goblin-fruit trees, are in bloom, and yield spring fruits immediately. The Contract heals people and animals of all wounds, and cures any illnesses or poisons that would yield with time. A target may only benefit from this contract once per week.
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Cost: 2 glamour for animals and plants + 1 willpower for sentient creatures.
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Loophole: The changeling decorates the target with ribbons and dances around them.
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Prince of Ivy: Plants around the changeling grow at an extraordinary rate, quickly enough for vines, roots and the like to grow around people and entangle them. Regardless of if the target escapes, over the next hour all but one year's worth of natural growth remains.
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Cost: 2 glam + willpower
Loophole: The changeling stands barefoot on the surface they wish the plants to grow, cutting themselves and letting their blood mingle with the ground.
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Dreams of the Earth: Spring is the season of awakening, when life returns to the world. The changeling sings a lullaby of seeds sleeping under the earth, and blooms still resting in the bud. A soft breeze carries the song to the changeling’s target, who must be within his line of sight. The target falls into magical slumber; nothing short of a damaging attack can wake them for several minutes.
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The user sprinkles sand into his target's eyes.
Fleeting Spring
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The Contracts of Fleeting Spring deal with manipulating, creating, and inspiring the court's patron emotion: Desire.
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Cupid's Arrow: This clause takes the first step in fulfilling a person's desires -- or teasing him and stringing him along -- by revealing what those desires are, usually whatever they desire most and two smaller desires. This desire can even be one the target is unaware of. With the proper prodding, it may even be possible to change someone's desires, though it is considered a crime to do so without just cause.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The user is holding an ivy flower.
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Wyrd-faced Stranger: The subject recognizes the user as the person he would most like to see at the moment. The character has no say over who she becomes, she just knows that she is recognized as the desired individual. The user may appear to be the dark, handsome stranger the target was secretly wishing would appear and whisk her away or the "federal agent" that the beat cop wants to take a murder off his hands. In such cases, the user's actual appearance becomes whatever the subject assumes the desired person would look like.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The user has something of emotional value to the target, such as the keys to a beloved apartment in the pocket.
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Pandora's Gift: When the changeling pays the Contract’s cost, the target must touch a tool or material the changeling will use in the crafting, although it could be anything from an incidental brush to an attack. If he uses a power that negates the need for tools, the target must touch him instead. He then shapes his target's desires into an object. He may not know what he's crafting, even as his hands move on their own accord. The item can be anything from the key to a lover's apartment to a weapon capable of slaying a Huntsman, and remains until the sun next crosses the horizon. It may be taken to a fae Hedgespinner to turn it into a permanent object, such as a teddybear that comes to life for a day when you call its name and tell it about something stressing you.
Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The target gave the changeling a gift, no strings attached, during this scene. This still works even if he coaxed the target into giving him the gift for this purpose.
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Court Mantle
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Every fae court has a mantle, something that causes a mystical resonance with their court. Spring reflects the growth of life and joy, warm and enticing. It breathes renewal, redolent with scents such as new flowers, rain on earth, or the sun on the grass. The air moves around the Emerald Courtier — stagnation is the antithesis of Spring. The colors may change around her as well: Greens become vibrant, war colors become richer, or the lighting seems to take on the same cast as a morning sunbeam. At its most powerful, the Spring Mantle leaves the image of flowers growing up in the changeling’s footprints.
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The Mantle is not just a bit of magical whimsy with no purpose, however! It can grant a few small magical boons and with the proper goodwill can even allow benefits of other courts.
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Gain Glamour whenever the courtier oversteps his bounds to satisfy a personal desire.
* Seduction and attraction become easier as the courtier seems to become more "desirable". This cannot force sexual orientation, merely boosting mundane attempts at attraction.
** Mundane actions that aid in bringing about or encouraging over-indulgance are easier and more convincing.
*** Being the court that values allies and partnerships of both platonic and romantic, this enchantment can aid teamwork attempts, giving a small boost to those the courtier cares about.
**** Regain additional willpower and glamour when acting in accordance with your Needle.
***** Once per plot arc, if a clarity break hits, they may convert it into something beneficial, standing defiantly to the memory of Faerie and proudly declaring "You will NOT have me!"
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Patron Emotion: Desire
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Desire is a flame. It's the fuel in the engine of ambition, it's the warm, rich red of passion and the pale insistent blue of hunger. It's the Will-O-Wisp dancing just out of reach, leading the foolish to bad ends yet the cautious to glory. You can't live without its warmth and heat, but feed it too much and it'll burn you to ashes as everything around you rages in flames. Desire is the food of life. With laughter, joy, and pleasure, people live! Without them, people just survive. If you seed the world with pleasure and desire it dulls the siren song of Faerie.
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Desire may be the most pleasant harvesting, when compared to wrath and fear and sorrow. But it’s not always a matter of nourishing indulgence. Desire is one part passion, one part hunger. It can be a bitter dram of envy, a metallic tang of covetousness, or the overripe, perfumed bouquet of raw lust, from the most innocent desire to be loved to the most hedonistic desires of passion and selfish vice, from sneaking a screaming child a cookie behind her back after his mother denied him, to the heart-wrenching need of a patient in a hospital to be healthy and well again. As the Court of Desire, desire floods a Spring Courtier with its power, causing them to be nourished more than any other emotion they can feed on.
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A Spring Courtier might visit a strip club for a hit of raw sexual desire, or attend a social mixer for a more refined brew. But she can also find a poignant longing in an office building around five, when the workers who can’t leave yet desperately wish they could. Even a busy restaurant has strands of wishful thinking from diners who would like to indulge more, or thinking of all the meals they'd like to try on their next visit.
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A beauty merchant sells mortals romance in the form of haunting perfumes and exquisite jewels, taking their money but also their lust for status and respect. A white-haired Beast with pearlescent antlers runs at the head of an adoring motley. A Wizened storyteller loops heartbreaking tales into visual novels sold to only a few. An erotic oneiromancer crafts dream venues for his clients to safely explore desires that they could never voice aloud. A literal
firebrand whips up crowds with promises of better days ahead. A therapist becomes far too involved with her clients, soothing their wounds and exploring their wants in ways that would get her license revoked. An urban gardener establishes community gardens in low-income neighborhoods. A parole officer goes the extra mile to help his charges rebuild their lives, and discreetly harvests a touch of their new hope.
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Stereotype: Denial
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It’s a simple stereotype: The Emerald Court is full of hedonistic, escapist lotus-eaters who refuse to look at anything unpleasant, or even admit it exists. As a simple stereotype, it is of course flawed and inaccurate. But it’s not entirely wrong. Most Spring Courtiers are clever enough to take the long view and disciplined enough to make sacrifices, because that’s what it takes to reject Arcadia and find your way through the thorns. And yet, the nature of their Bargain encourages them to look away. The temptation of Spring is to draw power from what you want — which makes it all the harder to deal with what you don’t want. Pain, fear, rejection, loss...to most people, these things are the opposite of desires. The Antler Crown is absolutely strongest in times of beauty and prosperity, when everyone around them is either achieving their desires, or even better, has the hope that the realization of their ambitions is juuust around the corner. Conversely, Spring is weakest in ugly times when hope is dim.
That's the bitter that balances out the sweet. While the Emerald Court may be admired for their passion and enthusiasm…and at the same time, held in some contempt.
It’s fair to say that freeholds of the Seasonal Courts need all four courts to run properly. But the Spring Court is necessary to the other three in ways that are hard to equal. The Court of Desire is, among other things, a support group for all those who need one. You need the Winter Court to gather intelligence, the Autumn Court to cast the magics, and the Summer Court to lead the fight — but you need the Spring Court to live in between all that. When the Courts tell newcomers what they have to offer, the Antler Crown stresses healing and camaraderie. We want you to be happy and healthy. You deserve that.
The Emerald Court overflows with energy that doesn’t subside when they cede the throne to Summer. They can pour that energy into productive tasks, or they can vent it in potentially destructive intrigues if they don’t feel that they’re being properly appreciated. In times of Low Spring, the Antler Crown takes roles that improve the freehold’s overall quality of life. Some tend to the physical needs of their fellow Lost. Spring produces quality
horticulturists and gardeners, who may have a knack for goblin fruits as well as more mundane crops. Some take to healing, be it physical medicine or emotional therapy. At least one Spring Courtier in every freehold volunteers as a master of ceremonies and ritualist to help the other courts run their celebrations smoothly.
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Court Goodwill
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Each of the four seasonal courts of the Changelings are bound to one another, and so those that gain clout and favor with another court may access their contracts and small pieces of their mantle benefits as if they were part of the court themselves. They may unlock up to rank 3 of a mantle benefit for a court they have Goodwill with, including non-seasonal courts should they have gained their favor.
Goodwill: Summer.
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Summer Mantle:
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Gain glamour when acting in justified fury or furthering a goal.
* Summer is the season of fury and fighting, gaining bonuses to intimidate.
** Summer Courtiers are also protectors who gain bonuses to defend others against fae threats. Their attacks strike harder and more accurately and their contracts are stronger when used against a fae target.
*** Summer Courtiers are tougher, their skin protecting as well as any armor, which stacks with worn armor, but only when acting as a protector for someone else.
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Summer's Fury: As Cupid's Arrow, but for Wrath, anger, and rage.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling coaxed the target into screaming at them this scene.
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Helios' Light: The character declares herself a child of the sun — where she walks, so goes the heavenly body. At that, a light spreads from her sternum to envelop her body until she is painful to look at. The light illuminates an area around her with a diameter of up to 160 meters and she is blinding to look directly at. The light is true sunlight, but channeling it through a body of flesh diminishes some of its power: Creatures harmed by sunlight take half the damage they normally would'
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling wears a big summer hat.
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Child of the Hearth: At the changeling’s behest, the sun’s warmth either fills or withdraws from the area, creating a sense of warmth or chill. This Contract still works indoors, at night, or under other circumstances when the sun isn’t visible — the sun’s warmth still remains, after all, and even these fading sparks come to the changeling’s aid.This Contract still works indoors, at night, or under other circumstances when the sun isn’t visible — the sun’s warmth still remains, after all, and even these fading sparks come to the changeling’s aid.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The user blows out a fading ember or spark.
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Fiery Tongue: The changeling's angry words can break bones and rend flesh. She rebukes her target, swearing by the Summer itself that he is incompetent and a fool. This creates bashing and bruising damage as if nailed with a large club or lethal damage such as stabbings and slashes if the target is fae in nature.
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Cost: 1 glam + 1 willpower
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Loophole: The changeling verbally asserts dominance over her target. She can invoke her higher court standing, her superior crocheting skills, or her first-edition Harper Lee novel, which he doesn’t have. Whatever she bases her claim on must be true.
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Wrath of Summer: The changeling's anger gives her strength, as she invokes the power of Summer, the relentlessness of fire, and the endurance of heat. The changeling seems to grow in stature and wrath, and adds power to purely physical actions, ignoring wound penalties and remaining conscious even while on death's door. Injuries and fatigue still pile up however, and when the contract ends the changeling must suffer them all the same, even if fatal.
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The changeling must eat a chunk of ice, crushing it in her teeth.
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Helios' Judgement: The changeling binds the sun's wrath in a single sunbeam, and wields it against her enemies, reaching up and pulling the sunbeam from the sky like a javelin, even at night as she pulls it from beyond the horizon, but not indoors. The damage degree is lethal, like a sword or stab, though channeling more fury can turn it aggravated such as heavy burns or dips in caustic acid. The beam returns to her hand after each throw for the Contract’s duration, and is true sunlight in all ways.
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Cost: 1 glam or +1 willpower
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Loophole: The target is wearing or touching gold.
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Goodwill: Autumn
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Autumn Mantle:
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Gain glamour when overcoming fear to investigate something dangerous.
* Gain bonuses to investigate fae things, such as having an easier time sniffing out fae magic or investigating a new token.
** Gain bonuses to intimidate or otherwise instill fear, similar to the Summer mantle 1.
*** Reduce glamour costs for Contracts when used to fight the Gentry or other fae beings.
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Jack's Lantern: As Cupid's Arrow, but for Fear instead.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling eats part of the target, which may be as small as a drop of blood or a single shed hair.
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Autumn's Fury: The changeling breathes out, and out, until a thunderstorm forms from his breath that involves heavy, thundering rain and intense, howling wind. For extra glamour cost, the storm can also strike foes with lightning that zaps the target with the equivalent damage of a sword strike, though being electricity it bypasses all defenses and armor made of metal. This storm affects all within 160 meters, though the caster stands in the "eye" of the storm.
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Cost: 2-3 glam
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Loophole: The changeling raises a metal rod and lowers it to point at their enemies.
Last Harvest: The character whispers to a target softly, telling her secrets he heard from the autumn wind. This makes glamour easier to harvest from the target, doubling or tripling the harvest if it resonates with their court emotion, but may only be used once per day, even if it fails.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling targets a Touchstone.
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Famine's Bulwark: Autumn prepares for the long Winter ahead by gathering as much knowledge as it can fathom. The changeling looks to the omens in dried leaves and birds’ migration patterns to foretell doom. The Changeling may ask three questions and receive truthful answers about the current situation. However, one of these answers will be false.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling eats the most recently harvested fruit that they themseves grew.
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Mien of Baba Yaga: The changeling appears as his target's greatest fear. He approaches his target from behind, around the corner, from darkness, or another place she can't see. Autumn winds carry the sound of his approach — his fingernails screeching along the wall, or his soft, cackling laughter.
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The changeling whispers the name of the target's greatest fear, but must be specific, such as "The Lord of All Things Lost and Found" and not "your Keeper"
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Riding the Falling Leaves: The changeling becomes an avatar of Autumn. Wind gathers around him, drawing in leaves, even from nowhere, as he merges with them. The changeling transforms into a spray of autumn leaves in all the colors of earth and fire. He is a single entity, and resistant to scattering. He becomes difficult to attack except against attacks that could reasonably harm a pile of leaves, such as flames or supernatural winds. This contract lets him fly as though on a strong wind and he may flatten his body to slip through small cracks and openings. He cannot manipulate objects or physically attack.
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The changeling catches a fallen leaf while invoking. Throwing and catchng a leaf works.
Tasting the Harvest: The changeling grants his allies courage, by eating their fears. One by one, each target speaks aloud of something she fears, and the changeling consumes it. He may bolster himself this way as well. The targets become immune to natural fear, and gain resistance to supernatural sources of fear.
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Cost: 1 glam per target
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Loophole: The changeling has legitimately jump-scared the targets.
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Goodwill: Winter:
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Winter Mantle:
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Gain Glamour when helping another overcome grief and sorrow.
* Enemies suffer a penalty to notice the Winter Courtier when they are deliberately spying or eavesdropping.
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** The Courtier seems more truthful and may more easily obscure the truth.
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*** When the Courtier surrenders in a fight, they seem more regretful, opening the way for negotiation more easily than normal.
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The Dragon Knows: As Cupid's Eye, but for regret and sorrow.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling looks into the target's eyes for a few uninterrupted seconds.
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Heart of Ice: The changeling's skin takes on a pallid blue color, radiating out from her chest until she looks frozen. She becomes immune to all effects and expressions of cold, all Environmental Tilts except those based on heat, and damage that consists only of ice or cold with no other physical component. This Contract affects both mundane and supernatural cold. Her heart is literally frozen for the duration, making her immune to effects that specifically target it. She can’t gain any emotional Conditions, such as Frightened, Inspired, Steadfast, or Swooned.
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The changeling stands on something cold, such as snow or a bucket of ice.
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Ice Queen's Call: The changeling calls on ghosts of winter, shards of cold and souls frozen in eternal winterlands, and spits on the floor. Her spittle immediately freezes, becoming the center of a cold spot that grows in size until an area out to 160 yards/meters suffers the Blizzard Tilt, causing intense visual impairment, howling winds, and freezing cold to the point of pain. The changeling herself is immune to the effects. Mournful, indecipherable whispers sound through the air while this Contract is in effect.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling sees or makes someone shiver.
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Slipknot Dreams: The changeling consumes her target's regrets, making him feel better but hollowing him out inside. She pushes him to pin his hopes on her instead of on what’s hurt him before. The changeling must speak to a target about their regrets to invoke this. The changeling soothes her target's regrets, though not the memory of their source. The target still knows his marriage failed, but now believes it was for the better as his ex-wife is happier.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The target accepted a gift within the scene.
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Touch of Winter: The changeling touches the surface of a body of water with her hand. Frost spreads out from her fingertips, flash freezing an area with a diameter of five yards/meters radiating from the changeling. The effect keeps spreading, adding five more yards/meters of diameter to the frozen area every few seconds as long as they maintain contact. The frozen surface can carry up to five people at a time and melts naturally after contact is lost.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling writes her name in the ice.
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Ermine's Winter Coat: In winter, the stoat sheds its brown fur for white, to blend in with the snow. The courtier hides herself from the piercing eyes of her enemies the same way. For the duration of the contract the changeling blends in with their surroundings, making them difficult to spot, though not invisible. As long as she's in the company of at least a few non-fae beings, magical senses have a much more difficult time noticing her as a fae.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling digs a hole, builds a pillow fort, or creates some other small space, and then hides herself in it while she activates this Contract.
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Goodwill: Pathways:
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The Court of Pathways is considered that of the most nomadic of their Freeholds. They wander ahead both as scouts and to gather the resources that their Freehold most needs, even hunting to provide food in the most needy of times. As such it draws those with quick minds and sharp senses both. This Court is the second line of defense against the True Fae... not primarily to battle with them, but to raise up the call to arms and warn of the coming battle.
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Gain glamour after using a prepared item on an obstacle. "Good thing I brought this rope so we can rappel down the cliff!"
* Gain bonuses to mundane attempts to find and gather resources.
* Gain bonuses to find and follow pathways, even those which are hidden or otherwise lost to time.
*** Regain willpower and extra glamour when finding a way around an impediment.
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Bounty by the Wayside: The changeling adjusts any headgear or their hair, and gazes out upon the expanses after
muttering their needs. They can name a few items and such items, or containers that hold them, seem to shimmer. Magic to conceal items may counter this effect.
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Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole:
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Running Till Dusk: Until the courtier, vehicle, or steed stops, or until the sun crosses the horizon, the courtier nor their steed will develop any blisters nor feel any fatigue from running or riding and vehicles will not use any fuel. While they will not develop such problems, it does not cure any that already exist. You must be able to start if you want to keep going!
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Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The user is wearing well-worn shoes with holes in them.
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One with the Road: The changeling starts to move, either themselves, a vehicle, or a steed and they move as if in a
dream. Should a road be flooded out, they can drive or run over the water as long as they keep to the road.
Ice will not affect them. Even spikes or the similar will not blow out tires or harm the feet of those passing over them.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: They must carry a stone marked in their blood with them, even if a small pebble.
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Guiding the Hidden Path: Taking the hand of another, the changeling walks through ways they can traverse that their follower can not normally, but by following in their footsteps exactly, somehow the other is able to. For as long as the user and their targets hold hands, the holders are able to follow the user regardless of circumstances. If the changeling turns into smoke to get through a crack under a door, so do they. If they fade through to the Hedge, the others are dragged along.
Cost: 1 glam, +1 per target up to 5.
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Loophole: The hands of those traveling together must be tied with red ribbons.
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Signless Passage: The changeling must start on a path and keep walking without care as they turn off in another
direction, barriers opening before them as if their path went that way naturally for five yards/meters
both ahead and behind them. Thorns and branches do not bar their way, even fences form open gates for
their passage. However, they must remain unseen or it does not work. It also does not work indoors.
Cost: 2 glam + 1 for a group
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Loophole: The user begins on a well-made road.
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Driver's Trance: Distracted driving kills... unless you know this Contract. Then, it only kills if they really mean it. Their vehicle or steed is almost like another limb, something they use without thought. While in a vehicle or on a steed, the changeling bites their finger lightly and whispers a traveler's prayer and thereafter may control it without using their hands, even while digging through the song list of a car's radio for the perfect music, or even their eyes on the road. While it might seem to be driving itself, it is still under the control of the user and follows their will as long as they are touching it and conscious.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The bite draws blood, which is smeared on the steed or vehicle.
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Goodwill: Crossroads:
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The Court of Crossroads is that of the wise elder, scholar and recordkeeper, Where paths cross, choice blossoms. Wisdom and knowledge are the twins that ensure a traveler reaches their destination rather than coming to a messy end.
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Gain glamour upon teaching a willing student something new or forgotten.
* Gain bonuses to researching boons and banes of a proposed path / plan, such as more easily remembering that X location is gang territory and they don't like intruders, or purchasing information about a foe's security system.
** Convincing someone to take or avoid a particular pathway is easier, though by no means assured.
*** Courtiers may burn willpower to manifest a language of their choice as if they were fluent speakers for a day, but feel exhausted for hours afterward.
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Wayfinder: The safest path forward to their desired destination is clear, and they learn one boon or baneful thing that lies along it.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The user must hold a naturally forked stick
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Dealing at the Crossroads: Legends speak of many a supernatural pledge being performed at a crossroads to both ruin and reward, depending on one's wisdom and the loopholes in such a pledge. The changeling bears a blank contract as they approach a crossroads, finding either a hobgoblin who will grant their desire for a price, or a non-fae whose desire they can grant for an equivalent boon, depending on what the changeling wants. The nature of this Contract ensures both sides are capable of upholding their end of the deal, and once the contract they carry is filled out and signed, both sides are enforced by Wyrd to do as they were asked as the contract flares away in fire. If one side refuses to do so, somehow the Wyrd ensures they pay the price to the other... with terrible interest.
Cost: 2 glam + 1 willpower
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Loophole: The changeling provides their own blood as ink for the contract's signature.
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Devil's Own Tune: For whatever reason, many Crossroads courtiers find themselves dabbling in music, finding it focuses
their minds. The changeling hums or sings a song quietly to themselves while working on an mundane action over an extended period...such as surgery or painting. They find that the task comes much easier to them, with success being even more potent than normal, but failure risks pain.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The tune is a particularly insidious earworm
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Charting the Wilds: The changeling leaves a map on the ground and acts to destroy it, and instead it creates a far
more detailed map to scale with their current location marked out on it as well as major landmarks and
important details of the area.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The map is a fine paper map that is cast to the ground rather than a map drawn in the dirt.
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Calculated Fortune: The changeling folds a paper bird with written on it a number of items up to five that they
know they could have found along a different path and casts it into the wind to fly away. Soon after while
traveling they will find a place where Hedge's hobgoblins have set up a market, able to provide those very
resources if the changelings will pay their prices.
Cost: 3 glam
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Loophole: The changeling offers a favor to the hobgoblins as part of their payment, as written on the bird.
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Trail of Bountiful Lies: The changeling stomps their feet a few times, as if trying to make sure they leave a trail, and for the rest of the duration of the Contract any time there is another likely way they could have gone, the
trails they leave split and lead away down each path. This includes all signs of their passage, such as
blood trails, scent, and the like. Supernatural attempts to find the correct trail can dispell the illusion, but only after inspecting each split for a short while on the way through.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling creates a new marker of trail they leave, such as fresh mud footprint, cutting their hand to leave the blood, or leaving a thread of their clothes behind on a branch.
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Goodwill: Cargo:
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The Court of Cargo is the court of diplomats, trap-makers, even simple porters, for cargo is often fragile and needs protection but if taken care of is a boon to all who travel with it.
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Gain glamour whenever they convince someone to help keep the peace, even in spite of themselves.
* Bonuses to building defenses around an encampment. Traps are more damaging, walls more sturdy, etc
** Cargo courtiers can more easily ferret out groups of local supernaturals, often for the sake of making deals.
*** Once per week, they may more easily make a mutually beneficial deal with hostile entities.
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Doors as Walls: The changeling places their hand to a door or window and whispers a sweet lie to it, and the door becomes solidly locked and barred against any mundane attempts to get through it. Force requires as much effort as
to make egress through the wall it is attached to.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The doorknob or window latch is broken or taken apart.
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Catching the Thief in Webs: The courtier casts out gossamer threads into the area around their camps, tied to their heart. Should someone not welcome approach, they will feel it as a spider senses a disturbance in its web.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling has set up obvious and easily found alarms.
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Secrets Bring Safety: The changeling makes marks such as graffiti that are senseless to any but those they name. To those eyes, the marks reshape themselves into perfect messages seven-fold longer.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The message must be written in something that can be easily washed away, though it will remain for the duration regardless until the sun next crosses the sky.
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Swords of Damocles: A Cargo courtier is mistress of her domain, and it attacks as she wills with hidden traps no one knew were there. The changeling warns the invaders of the doom awaiting them if they do not leave immediately
in a dramatic fashion. Hidden traps are revealed, even if they hadn't existed till the use of this Contract and act without any effort by the changeling after that point as long as they are still alive.
Cost: 2 glam + 1 willpower
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Loophole: The changeling must rant about their traps for at least 1 minute.
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Safety of the Cradle: The changeling enchants a container, including a building as long as it is completely enclosed, of some sort by speaking to it about its strength. As long a wall stands even slightly whole, no attack or damage from outside may bypass it. Utter destruction of the wall or container will allow the damage to pierce through.
Cost: 1 glam + 1 per 5 feet of volume.
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Loophole: The changeling touches along the length of each wall, loudly proclaiming the power of those walls.
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Surety of Solid Earth: The changeling sets their feet in a secure stance and brace themselves against anything to come, and so attacks against them while they have their feet on a solid surface are blunted, transferring a portion of non-bane damage into the surface below.
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Cost: 2 glam + 1 willpower
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Loophole: The changeling beats their chest and roars their defiance first.
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Goodwill: Carriage:
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Carriages are designed around comfort and a sense of home, even when moving. For many, they are a home away from home, but for others, they are the only place they call home truly. The Court of Carriage is that of home and hearth and those who make those things important and welcoming. It calls those who see comfort not just as a luxury but a necessity and salvation.
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Gain glamour when welcoming and comforting someone from stressed from long-term effort
* Bonuses to creating a welcoming environment to stay in, however temporarily
*** Bonuses to comforting a charge, such as meals they cook tasting better if it would make the charge's stay more pleasant.
*** Once per week, with a bit of glamour and a matter of minutes, they may alter a mundane building as if it was a Hollow until the sun has risen and set once each.
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Pickled Glamour: Through secret arts granted to the changelings by Carriage itself, they have learned a way to condense Glamour into liquid form, banking it with interest for times of need. The changeling prepares some food and creates a "brine" of liquid glamour, pickling the food for up to 5 months. During this time the glamour concentrates within the food, restoring more than what was spent in exchange for time.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling uses goblin fruit for the pickling.
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Luxury Among Scarcity: A changeling might have naught but salt for seasoning and cobwebs to sleep in, but through the Carriage they can make do. The changeling goes around gathering what resources they have, mixing them with memories of home and dreams of plenty and in the end everything of the comforts of home that they tried to provide
are as good and delightful as they could make do with more.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling sends people away to gather supplies while they prepare the space.
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Gracious Host's Sense: By gazing thoughtfully at a person, a proper host can feel what would give them the most comfort and put them at ease.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling stares at a reflection of the target rather than the target themselves.
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Songs Lighten Some Burdens: By singing a song, the changeling awakens the heart of the home, finishing by giving it a name. The house is treated as if it had a spirit within, capable of manipulating any objects within the home that belong there but cannot act outside of itself, not even to move in the case of RVs but can sense all within the premises and within normal sense range of the outside walls. It is considered to be in good standing with the one who awakened it, but may form attachments to others.
Cost: 3 glam + 1 willpower
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Loophole: The changeling performs "spring cleaning" while performing the song.
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Cornucopia of Plenty: In an obvious show of talent and trickery, the changeling trades away some mundane food for the strange and delightful foods of Faerie and the Hedge as a feast. As part of the trick, these are not hidden by the Mask, instead having a most clearly supernatural origin. There is more than enough food for those seated there. This meal is filling and hearty, causing a lassitude in the feasters. After all have finished and no longer paying attention to the meal, it disappears, with only the leftovers from the food sacrificed to be cleaned away.
Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The sheet to be used must have been embroidered by the changeling themselves.
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Giving Comfort is its Own Reward: The area around the courtier within 10 yards/meters becomes comfortable, canceling out environmental problems such as heat and cold. The courtier can cook with just their lap instead of a fire, and fatigue seems to melt away within that space. After 5 hours, this ends abruptly, which can be disconcerting.
Cost: 2 glam
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Loophole: The changeling must meditate for half an hour on the reasons for offering respite to others.
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Raiment of Ash and Glory: One of the things more renowned than the hospitality of the Carriage is their ability to provide comfort no matter what the circumstances. The story of Cinderella is both a rejoicing and a cautionary tale. The changeling can change objects or small groups of similar animals in varying ways, from doubling their size which may be done multiple times, taming an animal, turning them more resplendent, or transforming the general function of an object or creature (Such as the pumpkin into a large, pumpkin-shaped carriage).
Cost: 2 glam + clarity damage per group of similar animals or object transformed
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Loophole: The changeling does this to make another look good simply to make them happy.
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Goodwill: Crystal Web:
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Also known as the Backdoor Company or the Silicon Guild, the Court of the Crystal Web is all about technology, as their Patron isn't a season or a part of a traveling band, but the concept of the internet itself.
The Crystal Web’s members spread across the world, communicating on darknet forums and via encrypted email. Face-to-face gatherings occur in shared Hollows they call the Clouds: literal cloud-chambers, each keyed to a secret web address, floating in the sky of the BriarNet — the digital Hedge. Members research arcane problems together, trade rare tokens (especially digital ones), topple authority figures through clever application of goblin malware, and maintain a sophisticated intelligence network piggybacking on mundane surveillance infrastructure to keep tabs on important Hedgeways 24/7. A Silicon Guild motley dedicated to tracking the Others’ minions and researching their specific weaknesses may possess the most complete picture of Gentry activity on the planet. Another may visit Goblin Markets in obscure Hedge corners to forge illicit Goblin Contracts whose users can’t be traced. A third may consist of hackers who use literal back doors to enter the BriarNet and come back out inside an enemy’s secure server.
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Hidden Protocol: The changeling is never out of his service area in the mundane world with this Contract. He can use any electronic device that takes user input, whether it’s a keyboard, a phone’s number pad, or a microphone, to send swift communications by routing them through the Hedge. He doesn’t need to know the intended recipient’s contact information — only their name — and he doesn’t need any mundane signal or network. He can send up to 20 words per invocation. The recipient doesn’t need a device to receive the message. It arrives somehow by happenstance: graffiti in a public restroom stall, a snatch of lyrics overheard from a passing car with a loud radio, or a random note scribbled on a dollar bill the pizza delivery person gave them as change. Nothing stops someone else from spotting the message as well, however.
Cost: 1 glam
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Loophole: The changeling must use a significantly outdated technology to perform this, such as a telegraph or typewriter.
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Autonomous Payload: The changeling transforms into a digital being of electricity and bits, linking the Hedge’s cyberspace to mundane electronic data, letting the changeling slink inside computer systems as if they were a dreaming entity, or use them as junction points, teleporting by sending themselves as an email for example..